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Transgender Rite of Ancestor Elevation: May it be Guarded, Guided, Protected and Blessed

One of the most exciting and important developments I have seen this season so far — indeed, this entire year! — is an upcoming Transgender Rite of Ancestor Elevation, beginning this week! Ancestor Elevation is seen in one form or another in virtually every traditional (pre-secular) religion in the world, and it involves a period of focused healing, purification, and connective veneration for the spirits of the departed as they rejoin the collective. The objective of elevation is to assist specific spirits of the dead in their journey from being “the dead” to becoming “elevated ancestors”.

This is a rite that is very near and dear to my heart, but others have already written about it more clearly than I:

I will be supporting this process with prayers, blessings — and quite specifically — a set of rituals geared toward petitioning the promise of protection, upon those embarking upon this vital undertaking, and the spirits of those departed who shall be lifted in the doing. There are those in our world, and beyond it, who would see this work halted: may their hands be softened and absent strength to lift, may their minds be lapsed in stupor, may their tongues be leadened and wordless, that this work proceeds as planned. May any who would in thought or deed stand or lazily sit in the way of this be cast aside by the furious tides of necessity unfettered, for this is the holiest of Work.

Prayers and gratitude to those participating, organizing, and sharing in this. May you each be blessed, and may your work be doubly so.